Equally Speaking
The following is a transcript of HRC’s morning news webcast "Equally Speaking." To view the current videos visit the main Equally Speaking page.
Good morning and thanks for tuning in to Equally Speaking, your morning dose of GLBT news from the Human Rights Campaign for Wednesday, May 14th. I’m Cuc Vu.
And I’m Brad Mayer. First up, a new HRC Foundation initiative.
The HRC Foundation and the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association released the Healthcare Equality Index yesterday. The HEI is a first-of-its-kind survey rating the nation’s hospitals on a set of baseline standards of patient care for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Americans. To view the report, visit http://www.hrc.org/hei.
To mark the HEI’s release, HRC held a media conference call with several participating hospitals, a man who suffered anti-GLBT discrimination firsthand when his partner fell ill, and HRC President Joe Solmonese. To listen to audio of the call, visit the HRC Back Story blog at http://www.hrcbackstory.org/. You’ll also find text from a Huffington Post piece that Joe wrote about the HEI.
A proposed amendment to bar same-sex couples in Arizona from marrying has received final approval in the House. If it is approved by the state Senate, the measure will appear on the ballot in November. Arizona voters defeated a similar measure at the polls in 2006.
Austin, Texas, has elected its first openly-gay city council member. Randi Shade beat incumbent Jennifer Kim with 64 percent of the vote to win the Place 3 seat. She was endorsed by the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund.
A woman who was ejected from a New York City restaurant following last year's LGBT pride march has settled her lawsuit against the business. A bouncer at the Caliente Cab Company thought she was too masculine to use the women's restroom. The bouncer refused to look at her identification, which she offered as proof that she is a woman.
Robert Rauschenberg, a pioneer in pop art, has died. Rauschenberg is primarily known for his use of odd and everyday articles, but his talents spanned the worlds of painting, sculpture and dance. In recent years, he founded the organization Change Inc., which helps struggling artists pay medical bills. He was 82.
That’s the news from us today. Thanks for tuning in to Equally Speaking.
Thanks for watching, and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow.